Pinoys clinch silver in world taekwondo tiff

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines settled for a silver and three bronze medals in the wake of the gold rush of powerhouse Korea and Southeast Asian rival Vietnam in the third day of the ninth WTF World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico Saturday.

Jeordan Dominguez and Jocel Lyn Ninobla fell short in the freestyle pair over-17 event, losing the mint to Vietnamese Thi Thuy Dung Ngo and Than Trung Le (8.080) by a close .020 points.

Dominguez was gunning for his second gold in the four-day, 46-nation tourney after a triumphant effort in Friday’s freestyle mixed team over-17 competition in partnership with Glenn Lava, Jaylord Seridon, Janice Lagman and Rani Ortega.

The Dominguez-Ninobla pair finished ahead of Russia’s Nikolai Avdonkin and Nadeshda Pak (7.620) and USA’s Long Nguyen and Heather Huynh (7.340) who shared the bronze medal.

Rinna Babanto landed in the podium in two events, the freestyle female individual under-17 and recognised female individual junior.

Babanto posted 6.620 points in the freestyle category to share the bronze medal with Serbia’s Olga Petrovic (6.660). Vietnam’s Thi Mong Quynh Nguyen dominated play with 6.780 as USA’s Trina Dao (.6.700) finished second.

The Cebuana ace lost the battle for the gold to Korea’s Se-bin You (8.63). Chinese Taipei’s Hsiao Chi Huang took the silver while Canada’s Rose Ramsarran joined Babanto at third.

Team Philippines also snagged a bronze in male team under-30 hostilities via brothers Dustin and Raphael Mella and Rodolfo Reyes, Jr. Americans Tuong-Huy Nguyen, Albert Jong and Alvin Jong lorded the field with 8.32. Turkey’s Habip Okcu, Adil Tekin and Ali Ustabas (8.26) won runner-up honors.

Korea collected four gold medals in the penultimate day, bringing its total to nine. Vietnam’s two for the day upped its collection to three golds, two silvers and four bronzes, allowing the Vietnamese to overhaul the Filipino poomsae artists who had two golds, two silvers and three bronzes.